Top 5 best Jailbreak apps and tweaks for iOS 5

Even with all iOS 5 has to offer, if you're anything like me you'll always find a reason to jailbreak. I've always been the type of person who wants more flexibility and control over my iPhone. Luckily, a bunch of Jailbreak tweaks and apps have been updated for iOS 5 compatibility and allow me to have just that.

There will no doubt be a flood of them soon but for right now, right this minute, here are a list of our favorites, the ones we think are the best — TiPb’s Top 5 Jailbreak apps and tweaks that will help you get the most out of iOS 5!

SBSettings

SBSettings has not only been around forever, it has remained one of the most useful jailbreak utilities available. It allows you to add quick toggles for commonly used features such as brightness, 3G, airplane mode, bluetooth, and more. While SBSettings comes with a lot of the more commonly used toggles built in you can download even more from Cydia. You can also download themes to change the look of SBSettings as well.

Now with iOS 5 compatibility it has never been easier to access quick gestures and manage your device. Simply enable SBSettings in Notification Center and it's right there whenever you need it.

Activator

This is yet another utility that's been around almost as long as iOS has. But for most jailbreakers this is a tweak you'll definitely want to have. You'll probably end up using it anyways whether you realize it or not. Some apps even require that you install Activator in order to use them.

The whole point of Activator is to make it easier to get to things you use most frequently. If you send a lot of texts you may want a gesture that allows you to bring up a BiteSMS quick compose screen. Activator allows you to do this by simply assigning certain gestures to specific applications. Tons of jailbreak applications and utilities have built-in support for Activator.

If there is ever a period of time I have to suffer with a stock iPhone I still find myself trying to open things with gestures only to frown when it doesn't work. I still find myself wondering why shortcut gestures have not been more heavily implemented into iOS considering the wide adoption rate of Activator among the jailbreak community.

Dreamboard

While I think iOS has the cleanest and slickest interface out of any smartphone on the current market I still get bored from time to time and feel the need to switch it up. While a lot of long time jailbreakers have used tools like Summerboard and more recently Winterboard, the jailbreak scene just gets better and better. While Dreamboard is a newer app in its early stages it shows a lot of promise.

The ability to customize and create themes comes built into the app. You can replace and swap out icons and customize until your heart's content. For jailbreakers who are rather picky about themes and want the ability to have more control over "the little things", Dreamboard may be just what you're looking for. I'm sure we'll start to see Dreamboard extensions and downloadable themes cropping up in Cydia pretty quickly. At the time of writing this I already see over 15 themes available for Dreamboard. This is definitely a jailbreak utility to keep your eye on.

IntelliScreenX

While I've always been a huge fan of LockInfo by David Ashman I have to admit that the guys over at Intelliborn really stepped up to the plate with their new version of IntelliScreen for iOS 5.

The tight integration with the already built-in Notification Center is really what makes this version stand out. You can just tell that a lot of thought and energy went into the project. While Notification Center is good, IntelliScreenX makes it great. It adds the functionality that Apple left out. Everything from accessing all your information from the lock screen to having a top shelf feature for toggles has been re-worked from the ground up. Intelliborn is definitely giving apps like LockInfo a lot to live up to with their next release.

The down side is as of writing this it has not yet been released. Until then you can check out the video above to see it in action. This is one I keep checking on and can't wait to try out for myself. A few other sites have been able to get a early hands-on with it and have walked away quite impressed. It should be available this Thursday or Friday to the public. We'll add a link and update when it's readily available for download. Let us know if you see it up!

Free trial, $9.99 - Will add link when publicly available

BiteSMS

I've tried several messaging replacement apps but I always find myself coming back to Bite. When it comes down to it, it just works. It gives me the control I want and then some. And the update for iOS 5 is no different.

This time it's coming back around with a new face lift and even tighter integration to iOS. Not only will BiteSMS play nice with iOS 5 but it will also handles Apple's new iMessage protocol. The app just feels a whole lot cleaner this time around. I also like that users are now given the option to natively re-skin the Bite icon to the default Messages icon and hide the stock icon.

The iOS 5 compatible version is still in beta but it's public. In order to use it you'll need to add the following repository in Cydia -

http://test-cydia.bitesms.com/

Just a reminder that since it is still in beta you should expect a few bugs here and there. I've been using it for a bit now and haven't experienced too many issues outside of a crash here and there.

Your top Jailbreak app or tweak?

While this is our list of must have jailbreak apps we know you guys all have your own lists. Feel free to let us know of any cool jailbreak apps or utilities you've found as well. And if you're thinking about jailbreaking but have some questions first make sure you check out our TiPb jailbreak forums for all the help you need and answers to many commonly asked questions.

I have tried IntelliScreenX. It is certainly legions better than their previous offering. Unfortunately, it doesn't allow you to independently select widgets shown on the homescreen from those shown on the lockscreen. The current beta of Lockinfo (which is somewhat buggy) does allow this (through its own set of plugins-which act like widgets). I know Mr. Ashman is working on better (less buggy) integration of Lockinfo with IOS 5 Notication Center. Hopefully he will retain this function.
Also...the price for IntelliScreenX seems a little high.

I don't mean to be a whiner here, but is there a point to updating Jailbreak apps if there is never going to be a jailbreak for newer devices? I'm doubtful about the iPhone 4S if we still don't have a jailbreak for the Ipad 2.....

I'm no longer jailbroken but hoping to re-do that soon. I just like small tweaks, like Folder Closer (closes folders after you launch the program that was in them), Phone Closer (same, but for after-call, etc), SBSettings so easily turn off my Bluetooth and Wireless, and one tweak (can't remember the name) that you could tap and it would close all background apps instead of the tedious one-by-one you have to do to close them all out. Also the tweak that showed the date along with the time in the top status bar.

Hah - was behind someone on the train, watching them use a new windows phone, nothing was working, kept hitting a button to skip photos and music, wouldn't work. Had to exit out, then re-enter, 1 minute later, happening again.
iPhone. Just. Works.

Wish 4S/IOS had those apps. The ability to quickly toggle settings from the home screen would be awesome.
The Will of Steve J is all over this - he simply wouldn't allow such an App as he'd be admitting flaws in the overall product. If it were as good as we all think it is then we wouldn't be interested in such apps. RIP Steve, your legacy is secure.

having the 4s i miss bitesms BADLY. i think by far its the top reason to jailbreak a phone. sbsettings i miss too andof course my3g or 3unrestrictor etc tc whichever one u choose to use. i have an unlimited data plan and i always have to turn on wifi for downloading apps and all sorts of nonsense.

I would have to add CallBar to this list. It was recommended in the forum and I am loving it! It stops incoming calls from interrupting what you are doing no matter what. It was $3.99 and well worth it!

both android and iphone have over 100,000 apps you idiot. Androids market share is eating apple for breakfast, in the phone realm. Not long and it will be tablet too. Google makes the best most useful apps and they all integrate and work better on android than on iphone. iphone gmail/google apps suck compared to android. All the cool stuff you can do on jail broken iphones is standard on android.

Android is NOT beating apple in it's market share at all... I'm not a fan of either I just develop for them BOTH as it's my job. But by god is Apple destroying, it's got 200,000 more apps and a WAY bigger market share. It doesn't make a lot of money from it's app store but the app store attracts so many sales that it serves as a long term revenue input.
And no to that last thing Android does have some good features which would serve apple well but it has too many bugs and their App store is full of viruses, I could stick one in there if I wanted in a week! (I'm not like that). Although Apple has flaws, so does Adroid and you ca't just shoot one down because of your taste you have to take everything into account, iOS is more stable, but restrictive, android is open and loose ( ;) ) but not stable!

Uhh right :-/ I have owned both an android and a now the iPhone both of which I have rooted / jailbroke and unless you like being plugged into an outlet 24/7 and if you like rebooting every other day because your phone locks up then the iPhone is the way to go. iPhone has the best of everything once jailbroken. I will NEVER go back to the substandard amature android toys.

Android is an iPhone knock-off it has a 4x4 icon layout like the iPhone, it copied their animations and they also copied the lock screen idea FUCK OFF ANDROID AND ALL THE COMPANIES THAT JUST FOLLOW APPLE

Android is an iPhone knock-off it has a 4x4 icon layout like the iPhone, it copied their animations and they also copied the lock screen idea FUCK OFF ANDROID AND ALL THE COMPANIES THAT JUST FOLLOW APPLE

Completely agree with your thoughts about LockInfo. I have been pretty happy with IntelliscreenX but miss certain features I had in 4.3.3 with LockInfo. I have given up (for now) on SBSettings because IntelliscreenX has the hidden drawer at the top with most of the same goodness. Bite is also by far the best messaging app and the beta has been flawless for me since release! Good write up.

I prefer to use Lockinfo on my lockscreen (I turn off infoshade and the other options and let Inelliscreenx be king elsewhere) in conjunction with Intelliscreenx; they work really well together on the lockscreen, depending exactly on what you are doing (if I want to read my entire email and respond, do a quick FB check, check my RSS feeds and read them, then I check Intellix. But if I just want a quick glance of the weather, of my calendar, or of my notifications, nothing in depth, then I prefer Lockinfo). Both work very well with IRealSMS, too. I also think I prefer using them both because I don't really want my friends or coworkers to know they can access my notification center on my lockscreen and bypass CleverPin's protectiveness... which Lockinfo doesn't do.
The only issue I'm having with Intelliscreenx is that the inbuilt Messages+ always fails when I endeavor to respond; it never shows the persons name in the message header and it won't let me input the name or number (this is only when responding to someone, not when using the quick send option). I thought Messages+ and IRealSMS would create the perfect functional messaging system. Hopefully the issue is remedied soon.

Tried messing with the jailbreak all it did was erase all my music after i found rebooting got my pictures back so decided i dont need jailbreak on my ipad 2 only thing i actually got working cause not even the fonts were working was the one snes emulator that works and the gb emulators blow

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